A thirsty bunch

Bill Goetsch of Aurora attends as many beer festivals as he can in Colorado and put the Highlands Ranch Beer Fest among his favorites. "Colorado, as far as beer goes, we own this country," he said. "No one can compete against us."

Ryan Boldrey

Work? From left, Bri Olinger, Val Lark and Katie WesterKamp of the Boulder brewery, Twisted Pine, were caught having about as much fun as you can while on the job at the June 7 Highlands Ranch Beer Fest.

Ryan Boldrey

John Turk, who serves as the Colorado sales manager of Salt Lake City-based brewery Epic, served up plenty of the brewery’s IPA and pilsner June 7. Epic was one of 48 breweries present at the sold-out festival in Highlands Ranch.

Ryan Boldrey

Despite selling out well in advance, there was plenty of beer to be had by all June 7 at Civic Green Park during the second annual Highlands Ranch Beer Festival. Among the 48 breweries on the park grounds was Highlands Ranch’s own 3 Freaks Brewery, which debuted its Odd Man Stout and Lucky Clover Irish Red in advance of its soft opening scheduled for this weekend, June 13-15. The brewery plans to be open weekends for the next few weeks before beginning to hold regular hours.

Beer lovers from across the Centennial State did their best to try as much as they could from 48 breweries from across the region and country.

Highlands Ranch had a few of its own breweries on hand as Living the Dream, 3 Freaks and Grist all set up taps, along with neighboring breweries 38 State (Littleton), Rockyard (Castle Rock), Elk Mountain Brewing Company (Parker) and Lone Tree Brewing Company. The event, as it was last year, was sponsored by the Highlands Ranch Community Association.